Field emission technology, which is promising for the backlighting of thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays and the next generation of flat panel displays, relies on the efficient emission of electrons from sharp pointed conductive tips under electric field magnification. One-dimensional materials such as micro- and nano-sized wires are well suited as such emitters due to their elongated shape and pointed tip. The easy and direct patterning of these small sized wires on the surface of an electrode to form standing array of pointed tip emitters may be important for their application in field emission devices.
Several methods have been proposed and experimented to manipulate the free form of these wires. However, these methods may only be suited for the in-plane alignment of wires rather than the out-of-plane or perpendicular configuration required for field emission.
It has been proposed that efficiency of field emission may dependent on dimensional parameters of emitter assembly such as spacing/height ratio and density. Accordingly, there remains a need in the technique of alignment to provide standing assembly of micro-sized magnetic wires having desirable field emission properties, optimal spatial distribution and/or singularity.